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Violence in the pain clinic: the hidden pandemic
  1. Yousof Fawzy1,
  2. Zia Siddiqui2,
  3. Samer Narouze3,
  4. Sudheer Potru4,
  5. Alyssa M Burgart5 and
  6. Mercy A Udoji4
  1. 1Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
  2. 2Department of Anesthesiology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  3. 3Western Reserve Hospital Partners, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA
  4. 4Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  5. 5Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Mercy A Udoji, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30033, USA; mercy.udoji{at}emory.edu

Abstract

Workplace violence is any physical assault, threatening behavior or other verbal abuse directed toward persons at work or in the workplace. The incidence of workplace violence in healthcare settings in general and more specifically the pain clinic is thought to be underestimated due to hesitancy to report, lack of support from management and healthcare systems, and lack of institutional policies as it relates to violence from patients against healthcare workers. In the following article, we explore risk factors that place clinicians at risk of workplace violence, the cost and impact of workplace violence, how to build a violence prevention program and lastly how to recover from violence in the practice setting.

  • Pain Management
  • Analgesics, Opioid
  • EDUCATION

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Footnotes

  • Twitter @Fawzyyousof, @SPotruDO, @BurgartBioethix

  • Contributors The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: Design and outline (SN, SP, AMB, YF and MU); Draft manuscript creation and editing (YF, ZS, SN, SP, AMB and MU). All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript. MU is responsible for the overall content as guarantor.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests SN is on the editorial board of the Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Journal.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.